2004 Member Services Committee Report

Toward those ends, we have divided our committee into subcommittees to work diligently on each of these goals. We are pleased to note that the website should be up and running this fall. Products will be offered online with photos of some of the items. Members will be able to pay for items online and have the items shipped to them.

Over the summer, we added four new vendors to our existing list. In the last issue of In Contract, we told you about Island InkJet which provides refills for inkjet and laser cartridges and Office Depot, which provides you discounts on office supplies.  On your right are descriptions for the two approved in August - Merkel Financial Services and Pro-Source, Inc.

But stay tuned as we're considering more  vendor's services and products in the coming months.

The current list of Preferred Vendors is always included in your In Contract magazine.  A new idea was to feature two of our preferred vendors each month to remind you of the services they provide. We're debuting this new feature in this issue with a fresh new Preferred Vendors design.

I want to thank the members of the committee, Corey Skinner and Peggy Osterberg for their hard work. It is truly a pleasure to serve with them!

Featured Vendors - September 2004

Time Warner Cable
Nevin Colvin (614) 481-5435
nevin.colvin@twcable.com

Road Runner Business Class brings high-speed data solutions to businesses of all sizes. We provide Internet Access, web browsing, firewall, vpn and many other solutions tailored to your business.

Our connections will increase the speed to property information. We can do this safely and securely with the peace of mind of local support and technicians.

Road Runner Business Class is headquartered in New York City and is owned by Time Warner Cable - a Time Warner Company. We are the largest media company in the world, with more than 80,000 employees.

Nevin Colvin is an account manager with the company and has two years experience in working with Road Runner Business Class and over six years experience in tele-communications. Nevin enjoys fishing, golfing and investment analysis.

UFAX LTD.
Brian Hoy (614) 565-7675
brian@ufax.net

UFAX provides secure, dependable and affordable electronic document delivery solutions by utilizing cutting edge technology to offer its customers fax-to-email, email-to-fax and web-based faxing services. UFAX also offers E-mail hosting packages, ranging from simple email forwarding up to complete team-based E-mail systems. Member benefits include:

• Saves money by allowing you to cancel fax-dedicated phones lines.
• Saves money by eliminating costs in paper, toner, and fax machine maintenance.
• Increase productivity by viewing, printing, or sharing all of your faxes via email.
• Increase efficiency by archiving faxes electronically. Back them up on CD or network storage. Instantly retrieve them with a click of the mouse!
• Eliminate waste of paper, toner and busying of the fax machine by deleting junk faxes instantly!
• Increased flexibility. You can send and receive faxes while away from the office or home via E-mail or the web.
• Keep your existing fax number (in most cases)
• Simple to use. If you can send and receive e-mails, you already have the ability to do your faxing with UFAX.

For a complete list of the CBR Preferred Vendors, click here. (Members only)

CBR Adds Two New Vendors To Its Preferred Vendor List - Merkel Financial Services and Pro Source, Inc.

Merkel Financial Services will provide members the opportunity to purchase long-term Individual Disability Insurance at a premium discount. This insurance, which is a product of Principal Life Insurance Company, provides financial stability should the policyholder become sick or disabled. Members will be eligible to purchase this disability coverage with combined premium discounts of up to 30 percent. Products include:

• Disability Income (DI) insurance: Replaces a portion of after-tax earned income to help pay for personal living expenses during a disability.
• Overhead Expense (OE) insurance: Reimburses business owners for business expenses incurred during a disability, allowing them to keep their business open until they recover and return to work.
• Disability Buy-Out (DBO) insurance: Provides funds needed to transfer business interest from a disabled owner to the remaining active owners ? up to a $2 million benefit. (DBO requires two or more owners.)

For more information and/or to get a quote, call Michelle Merkel, 614/481-4455.

Pro-Source, Inc. is a wholesale flooring provider and the largest purchaser of floor covering in the United States. Their showrooms are located in office parks to eliminate the expensive overhead associated with expensive shopping malls. And they don?t sell to the public. This allows them to provide wholesale prices to members and/or their clients.

Through Pro-Source, members can purchase flooring at substantial discounts - typically 30-50% on carpet and 20-30% on hard surface floors.  Members of the Member Services Committee have used Pro-Source and assure you that the discounts are indeed substantial.

There's a $25 fee to join.  But then you'll receive a coupon for $25 toward your first purchase. 

And when you join, you can also send your clients to Pro-Source!  What a great service to be able to provide for sellers and buyers.

Their hours of operations are 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, M-F and 9:00 am - Noon on Saturdays.

For more information and/or to receive a quote over the phone, please call Rich Williams, Showroom Manager, 614/751-8451.